Just SHUTUP and LOCK !

hey all,

good to back in training after the hols...looks like i gotta catch up man...feel abit lost at times but glad that everyone is doing fine =)

anyway just post of pictures up from my recent trips from cairns/melboure...went over there with my family and a couple of my family friends...ok, maybe not a couple..there were 22 of us in all so its like all of us when we were over in bangkok...haha...big group...anyway, here are some of the pictures that i took, with captions...enjoy =)

welcome to cairns! lovely place by the sea...weather was good when i was there...quite similar to Singapore other than its abit cooler so its really pleasant...this was taken from one of the lookout points from a cliff overlooking the sea...

Food there was god-like as well, especially the seafood..its so fresh u have the taste of the sea in it ,if u know wat i mean (and yes, they did wash the food properly before serving)...here's a picture of us at this eatery by the sea...this was the start of my seafood spree, where i probably single-handedly hurt australia's prawn, osyter and mussells population...and probably my cholesterol level as well... =P

Cairns as also nice rainforests because of the climate there...we went to vist one of the reserves where we took a river cruise up the river into the forest...really nice as u can see in the background...lotsa greens....spotted a croc and snake along the way which got the kids on the trip all excited...not too mentioned the many frightened mums...oh, and this is half the travelling group...the grown-ups were having coffee somewhere...tsk

Another attraction in Cairns is the Great Barrier Reef! we took a yacht out to an Island lying in the reef called Green Island where we spent the day diving, snorkelling, threading our toes in the fine sand and enjoy the sun...now, this is life at its best!Oh the crew aboard the ship were really nice as well, making us laugh and serving us with great food like chocolate brownies and champagne...gosh, im missing it already.......................

scuba diving with my dad....just before we jumped in, there were 2 small sharks circling our boat...so cool...they darted off when we jumped in which was a pity...lucky for me, i saw one of them again near the boat while i was snorkelling..the feeling of being 5m away from the shark was "wow......"

after the day out at sea, it was off to melbourne...melbourne, unlike cairns, is cooler...its on the southern part of melbourne and although its summer, the weather fluctuates and can drop to as low as 12 degree celsius...the day i left was blistering hot though with temperatures at ta high of 35 degree celsius...first up in melbourne was to head up to its hilly region, and in particular, Mt. Dandenong...we stopped along away at a parrot/cuckatoo feeding site and man, were they everywhere....here's a pic of my youngest brother with birds all over him...the kids had a blast!

On the other hand, i was getting irritated by the birds and decided to eat a few...

The roads along Mt Dandenong were nicely shrouded by trees which shot way up...there were many odd looking one-street towns along the way which made u feel u had gone back in time...the population of each town could be no more than a few hundred at max...probably hall 13 residents all add up could be twice the population of each town...which made it really nice and cozy...we stopped along the way for the drivers to take coffee breaks coz it was pretty tiring to drive the winding roads uphill...this is one of them hidden amongst the lush vegetation there...

Fruits there,in general, were cheap...my family brought back like 5kg of cherries...while others brought back like 7plus kg of mangoes...crazy...but the fruits there were really good, and being typical kiasu singaporeans, cheap and good must buy...dun buy stupid...go back let ppl scold....ya, so like some suay ku urban dwellers, we drag these boxes of fruits to the airport which amused the locals there quite abit....haha...

The above two pictures are of Melbourne City...quite a nice city skyline with lotsa old and new buildings standing along side each other...the second picture is off the main train station where u can take a train to places within Melbourne or also, the intercity trains to other cities such as Sydney and Brisbane....really nice farcade which looks great under the sun...the ladies did quite a bit of shopping there, visiting Direct Factory Outlets (DFO),and victoria market which is one huge pasa malam...saw uni melbourne as well and gosh, were there a shitload of asian ppl around the area...

Saw this in one of the alley ways and i could not help but to ask my sister to help me take a picture...the graffiti art were damn bloody nice lah...continued snapping away until they were all chasing me to go...haha...

After the day in Melbourne City, it was back to the road...next on the itiniery was the famous Great Ocean Road which would lead u to see the 12 Apostles and other unique landforms along the coastline caused by sea eroding the land...the plan for the first day was to travel to see these landforms and to our sleep over destination, Port Campbell, which was 300km away...signboards along the way made the roadtrip pretty interetsing...this is one of them...another went "Drowsy Drivers Die"...if only Singapore roadsigns were these hilarious...haha...

As the name of the road suggests, the Great Ocean Road ran along side the sea all the way...blue seas coupled with blue skies made it one of the most scenic road trips i have made...

we stopped over at this nice little town called lorne for lunch...we had fish and chips there and once again, the food was great...the servings were huge and the fish was damn fresh...after the meal, i took a little walk and found this obelisk by the sea, erected in memory of those from the town who joined the Australia Forces in WW1 and WW2...pretty sight...and as we left, i took this picture (bottom) that led back to the Great Ocean Road...Nice to live in a town like this, ain;t it?

And finally, after a long day of driving, we reached the 12 Apostles (top pic)...it was about 6plus to 7pm in the evening when we arrived at the destination but as its summer in australia, it meant longer daylight hours and it looked like 5pm in Singapore...the 12 Apostles are 12 columns of rocks left behind by the erosion of the shoreline but as u can see, only a few remain...at last count, there were 9...haha...there were other peculiar landforms there such as this island with an arch in the middle (middle pic)...it really looked beautiful there with the setting sun's rays going thru the arch...real picturesque place...if u love photography, this would be a great site for taking nice pictures man...the cloud formations (last pic) were nice as well...basically, it was worth the drive lah..haha...

We finally reached out sleepover destination around 830pm, close to 9pm...this was moments before the sun set where the scare was just painted a nice sad of scarlet and orange over the piece of land...we had pizza for dinner and the pizza has set the bar for pizzas so much higher now...haha...yeah, the next day, we took the highway back to melbourne which was just a boring drive back and the remaining days were left for the ladies to go shopping so didn't any more pix...hope this long entry didn't bore u guys! oh ya, the pictures were brought to u by none other than, YOURS TRULY (applause pls):